Kazakhstan is one of the world's biggest countries, and as you'd expect it takes a
long time to get around. Today I'll be making a 24 hour long journey through modern day Kazakhstan,
aboard one of the country's Soviet era carriages. We'll be taking a look at
all parts of the experience, from the cosy retro interior, to the less glamorous parts.
Experience seeing this country's vast steppe landscape in a brutal winter, while we stop
off in its rural areas. Join me for an incredible journey back in time through this amazing country.
Hello, and welcome back to another video. Today I'm here in Almaty, Kazakhstan's biggest city,
and I'm going to be taking the Kazakhstan Railways train up to Nur-Sultan,
the country's capital city. For this journey, I'm on-board the TurkSib Astana, which is one of the
privately operated trains here in Kazakhstan, and I'm in a Kupe (second class) room. So, let's go!
So you may notice that I'm in a car for the start of today's video.
Well, Almaty has two main stations for long-distance trains,
the creatively named Almaty-1, and the similarly imaginative, Almaty-2.
The latter is located vaguely close to the city's centre, while Almaty-1 is not even slightly close.
My train is annoyingly departing from Almaty-1 station, which can easily be
upwards of an hour's drive in peak times, so be sure to head to the station in plenty of time.
Many different bus services also serve the station,
but from my observations these were often packed.
Anyway, welcome to Almaty-1 station,
originally dating back to 1929, with at least three major overhauls since.
I'm running a little bit late due to heavy traffic on the roads,
so let's waste no time in getting inside.
Before being granted access to the concourse area,
all passengers must first pass through a security check.
Now don't worry, this isn't as time consuming as at an airport,
and I was through in about one minute.
Almaty-1 station was last overhauled about ten years ago, in 2013.
It's actually quite a modern station, definitely a lot more than my carriage for
the twenty four hour trip tonight, though some routes in Kazakhstan span over three nights.
One side of the station features a ticket office, though personally I'd recommend
booking online using Kazakhstan Temir Zhol's pretty decent website, which is easy to use,
and even has an English option, as well as the ability to select your exact place on the train.
Especially as the trains can often sell out in peak season.
Almaty-1 is an aesthetically pleasing station, with a design that also has
some cultural meaning. The Kazakh people were traditionally nomads,
so it makes a lot of sense to see traditional nomadic patterns made out of the floor tiles.
The station has everything you'd need, from plenty of seating to all
sorts of shops selling gadgets to keep you entertained, as well as snacks and drinks.
There are also a few restaurants here, should you wish to grab a meal before boarding your train.
Even a hairdressers can be found in the station, and perhaps strangest of all,
a claw machine game - I've never seen that in a station!
Anyway, my train today is number 43, the 18:02 service to Kostanay.
It's already waiting at platform number two, so let's head outside and take a look.
Here it is! This train is in the old cyan livery
of Kazakhstan's national railway operator, Kazakhstan Temir Zhol.
Curiously, this train is actually operated by a private company called 'Turksib Astana'.
Very little information exists in English about these private operators in Kazakhstan,
but from what I can tell, the national operator runs the locomotive and
technical side, while the private operator is responsible for the staff and carriages.
Today's train has two very different types of carriage. These brand-new Russian carriages
were built just a few years ago as part of a rolling program to replace the previous fleet.
Then there's the Soviet era fleet, built in what was then East Germany from the 1960s. There's no
way to tell which type of carriage you'll get, so you just have to wait and find out!
Though due to unforeseen circumstances, I'll be travelling in both of these carriage
types on this 24 hour journey - stay tuned to find out why!
Our train will be hauled by this Chinese built type KZ4AC. This fleet of 27 electric
locomotives are responsible for most passenger operations on Kazakhstan's electric rail network,
and as you can imagine, they certainly cover a lot of distance in a year!
Let's head over to the train. Almaty-1 station has
just three tracks, so it's not easy to get lost here.
The platforms here are always busy with activity,
plenty of locals come to the station to sell their goods.
Apples are a local speciality in Almaty, so I'd highly recommend sampling some,
you definitely won't have any trouble finding them.
[RU: Are they Kazakh apples?]
With local produce in hand, I think it's time to get on-board!
I'm travelling in Coach 11 today,
which is one of these Soviet era Ammendorf carriages from East Germany.
Boarding is simple, with the carriage attendant waiting for any booked passengers on the platform.
Once your ticket is checked, your name is crossed off the list, and you are shown to your room.
I've booked the entire room, to make filming easier.
This involves buying four seperate tickets, which can sometimes confuse staff.
Anyway, now I'm all explained, let's get settled and have a look at today's route.
We'll be travelling west first, towards Shu, before making a reversal to continue
north stopping at many stations across the Kazakh steppe. The journey is scheduled
to take 24 hours and one minute to cover the 1329 kilometres, or about 826 miles.
We depart Almaty-1, on-time at 18:02, beginning our one day long journey across the country.
It seems like I've caught the station at a busy time,
with lots of locos shunting around the local area.
With most rail journeys in Kazakhstan being very long, there are only a few multiple units in
operation in the country. Much of the fleet is still made up of Soviet era locomotives.
Rail freight is a huge thing in Kazakhstan, thanks to its borders with Russia and China,
as well as sitting upon the Caspian Sea.
In fact, cargo makes up 88% of the railway's revenue,
with over 50% of the country's freight travelling by rail.
But now, let's have a look around the compartment here on this Soviet train.
All compartments in second class, more commonly referred to as 'kupe', contain four beds.
They feature sliding doors, which can be locked.
In fact, they feature three locks, so there's certainly no security concerns here.
These carriages look like they've barely been touched since they were built, way back in
the mid-1980s. They feel very homely, and are a great place to spend hours or days travelling in.
Light controls can be found next to the door,
allowing you to turn off the warm yellow lights in the night.
Bedding for all four berths can be found on the top bunk.
More blankets can be found above the door, for when it gets cold.
During the day, the two lower bunks are used for sitting on.
These are fairly comfortable,
and very spacious given the maximum occupancy of these rooms is four people.
These lower bunks also lift up to provide secure storage
for luggage - nobody can get to it while your sleeping on top of it!
You do need to make the bed yourself, but this is easy enough.
The sheets are brought to you by the provodnitsa (or carriage attendant),
with the packs featuring a pillow case, and a cover for the mattress, as well as a top sheet.
This was actually a really comfortable bed,
and as I had the room to myself, I even used two of the mattresses for extra comfort.
The pillow was also really soft.
Also if you want more space, then the upper bunks can be folded and locked away.
At the window, you can find some curtains. These might look nice,
but they're fairly useless, as if you pull them too hard then they'll just fall off.
Rather more useful is the window blind,
which is a bit more durable than the curtains, even being too stiff.
Once the lights are off, then you can use the individual reading lights for each bunk.
These gave off such a welcoming ambience,
and made the trains feel just like a visit to an old babushka's house.
Anyway, at this point I thought it was time to go to bed. But first, time for a drink.
Unfortunately, this service doesn't have a restaurant car,
so you're best advised to bring plenty of snacks.
However, the provodnitsa at the end of the carriage will be happy to supply tea and water,
and a selection of snacks too, if you're lucky.
Hot water can be dispensed from the samovar at the same end of the carriage.
This coal heated boiler is also responsible for the train's heating
system, and there's a bit of a story involving that later on in the video.
Officially, a cup of tea is meant to cost 22 Kazakh Tenge, which is VERY cheap.
However, whenever I tried to pay, it was always refused.
And one last thing before bed, you may have noticed I've not shown you
the plug sockets yet. Well, that's because the rooms don't have any.
If you really need some emergency power,
then you can find just three European style plug sockets in the corridor.
I finally ended up going to sleep around 23:40, easily dosing off in my comfortable bed.
Eventually, I woke up some ten hours later, taking advantage of the long travel time to get a lie-in.
This station is Agadyr, a fairly small city in the centre of Kazakhstan.
After a fifteen minute stop, we're continuing north on the way to Nur-Sultan.
By the way, Kazakhstan has actually renamed its capital city AGAIN since
I filmed this video. Nowadays, the city is known as 'Astana'.
We're now in the vast steppe of Kazakhstan,
a region stretching the entire northern part of this massive country.
For some, this scenery may be boring. But personally,
I find it very relaxing to sit back and stare off into the emptiness.
Most of the views on the remainder of the route will consist of railway
infrastructure, and the occasional passing train.
Also look out for wild horses. Horses have an important history in Kazakhstan,
with scientists believing the first horses were domesticated in the region.
Nowadays, they are a popular food in modern Kazakhstan.
Believe it or not, this tiny trackside shack is actually one of our stations today.
Aysa is a very small settlement, but still gets multiple trains a day on this route.
One thing I'd noticed since last night is that the train was really rather cold now.
I decided to try and warm myself up with another questionably free cup of tea.
While I drunk this, I also topped up my phone's battery with a power bank.
This is really an essential item when travelling in this part of the world.
And I'm sure I don't need to be the one who tells you that WiFi is not available on this service.
As this train is a very slow service, it doesn't have high-priority on the network.
Much of the time, we wait in freight yards for other trains to overtake.
Anyway, let's go and take a look at the toilets.
One of these is provided at each end of the carriage. Sometimes,
there's a wheelchair accessible toilet, however I didn't see one on my train.
These toilets are clearly not in the best condition,
so I'd always recommend bringing hand sanitiser.
Also, there was no toilet seat, so good luck with that!
Plenty of soap was provided, and the water was working fine.
By the way, you need to push the bottom of the tap upwards to release water.
Toilet paper was present, however this is often not the case, so be prepared and bring your own.
At around 13:15, we arrive into Karaganda-Passazhyrskaya.
The city of Karaganda is the first and only major city on today's route,
being Kazakhstan's fifth most populated city with around half a million residents.
The platforms here feature plenty of outlets to get a snack, and whilst I personally had plenty
of supplies, I did take advantage of the long thirty minute stop here to get a bit of fresh air.
Having said that, Karaganda is actually Kazakhstan's most polluted city,
also having some of the worst air quality in the
world. This is thanks to its history as a mining town during Soviet times.
At this point, with help from Google Translate, the provodnitsa explained
to me that the carriage's heating system had failed.
And it certainly couldn't be a shortage of coal either, as a tractor came along for reloading.
After we departed Karaganda, I was taken to another carriage.
This was one of the brand-new Russian designed carriages,
rather surprisingly built by the Spanish company Talgo here in Kazakhstan.
But I wasn't just put in any normal
compartment...this was the dedicated staff compartment.
Things got a little bit awkward when people started coming up to me asking questions,
and trying to get a cup of tea.
Our slow journey continues,
once again being shunted to the side to allow faster trains to overtake.
Even freight trains seemed to take higher priority.
One of the big positives about this newer carriage was the presence of plug sockets,
allowing me to charge up my phone and camera.
There was also a modern and clean vaccuum toilet,
which is a stark contrast to the soviet era design.
With the winter sun once again low in the sky,
this is an indication that our one day long ride is nearly over.
So how much does all this cost? Well, I paid 7868₸ per bed, which for a journey
of this length is clearly excellent value for money. For all four beds in the room,
this cost 31472₸, which is still a really good price.
As we approach Nur-Sultan-1, we can see sidings full of carriages. This includes
Kazakhstan's newest Talgo trains, which use very small carriages and a unique
wheel layout. These feature a restaurant carriage, and even rooms with showers,
so let me know if you want to see a video on Kazakhstan's flagship overnight train fleet.
After just over 24 hours,
we arrive into Nur-Sultan-1 station around 10 minutes late, at 18:13.
Overall, I really enjoyed my slow ride through Kazakhstan. With the big exception of the
failed heating, the Soviet-era carriages are a delightful way to travel, even if very dated.
Having said that, you can't complain too much for a journey at such a great price.
At this station, an additional carriage was added to replace the one with failed heating,
while the loco is changed for a brand-new Alstom Prima.
As always, let me know in the comments what you thought of Kazakhstan's train from the Soviet-era,
do you reckon you could manage 24 hours on this thing?
If you enjoyed watching my Kazakh railways experience,
then you'll definitely want to watch this video on screen now.